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50 Keyboard Shortcuts That Work Across All Web Browsers

You don’t need to be a Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer devotee. You can use whichever browser is currently doing the best job for you, and with these 50 shortcut keys it’s easy to switch between all of them.

Most web browser developers today understand what users expect to see and do when they use a browser. This is true for Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari. Nearly every web browser out there shares a common set of keyboard shortcuts, and as a result, it’s easy for users to switch over and between browsers. There’s plenty of keyboard shortcuts unique to each browser, but here I’ll show you the shortcuts that can be used in all of them.

Note: If you’re using Linux or Mac the modifier keys may be slightly different, though still generally universal.

Basic Navigation Hotkeys

KeyboardShortcut

Action

F5

Refresh

Ctrl + F5

Refresh and reset the browser cache for the current page.

Alt + Left Arrow

Back

Alt + Right Arrow

Forward

Alt + Home

Return to Homepage

Escape

Stop

F6

Select the address bar (Alt+D and Ctrl+L also works here)

F11

Fullscreen mode, exit fullscreen mode

Home

Scroll to top of page

End

Scroll to bottom of page

Spacebar

Scroll down

Shift+ Spacebar

Scroll up

Page Down / Up

Scroll down / up

Ctrl + C

Copy selected text

Ctrl + X

Cut (copy and delete original) text

Ctrl + V

Paste copied text

Advanced Navigation Shortcut Keys

KeyboardShortcut

Action

Ctrl + D

Bookmark current page

F1

Open a mostly useless help page

F3

Perform a text search on the current page, find next text result

Shift + F3

Find previous text search results

Ctrl + F

Perform a text search on the current page

Ctrl + G

Find next text result

Ctrl + Shift + G

Find previous text result

Ctrl + H

Open browsing history

Ctrl + J

Open downloads folder and/or history

Ctrl + O

Open a local file in the browser

Ctrl + S

Download and save current page

Ctrl + P

Print current page

Ctrl + E

Select the search box or omnibar. (Ctrl + K also works)

Ctrl + Shift + Del

Opens up the clear browser history dialog or settings

Alt + Enter

Open search in a new tab

Ctrl + Enter

Open search term as a website

F12

Open developer tools or Firebug

Ctrl + U

View source

Alt + F

Makes the menu bar appear (if hidden)

All About Tabs

KeyboardShortcut

Action

Ctrl + N

Opens a new window (this works in Windows too)

Ctrl + Tab

Cycle forward to the next tab

Ctrl + Shift + Tab

Cycle backward to the previous tab

Ctrl + F4

Closes the current tab.

Ctrl + T

Opens a new tab.

Ctrl + Shift + T

Opens a recently closed tab.

Alt + F4

Close the entire window (truly universal for every app)

Ctrl + # key (1 to 8)

Changes view to the tab number chosen

Ctrl + 9

Changes view to the last tab

Mouse and Keyboard Combos

KeyboardShortcut

Action

Ctrl + Mousewheel

Zoom in our out

Ctrl + 0

Reset to 100% (default) zoom

Mousewheel Press

Closes tabs if clicked on a tab, opens links in new tab, scroll

Ctrl + Left Click

Open link in a new tab

Shift + Left click

Open link in a new window

Shift + Ctrl + Left click

Open link in a new background tab

I hope you find all of these shortcut keys useful, and please let us know if we missed any in the comments below!